missing); some questions have no results presented; most results are not subjected to statistical tests but are merely presented as frequencies of replies; and where statistical tests are reported, the details are often too sketchy to judge the validity of the procedure. Many of the studies seem to have been executed and analysed by the author’s students, which may account for some of the reporting and validity problems. Still, the patterns of results are intriguing and should prompt further, more controlled research into these issues. Also, where differences are exceptionally large, statistical tests are probably unnecessary to confirm the pattern that is discerned. Interpersonal communication scholars may therefore find the studies useful in revealing the social meanings ascribed to certain nonverbal behaviours and the mediating effects of perceived context and demographics on those interpretations. Practitioners should likewise discern many valuable conclusions about successful and unsuccessful interview behaviours.

Bilingualism and Special Education: Issues in Assessment and Pedagogy

Learning how to mean: Explorations in the development of language.

https://www.tcrecord.org/LIBRARY/pdf.asp?ContentID=16963

Linking Student Achievement Growth to Professional Development Participation and Changes in Instruction: A Longitudinal Study of Elementary Students and Teachers in Title I Schools.

Background/ContextEnglish language learner (ELL) students are lagging behind because of the extra challenges they face relative to their peers in acquiring academic English language proficiency wit...

/pdf/assessing-english-language-learners-opportunity-to-learn-2y3z0kd422.pdf

Assessing English Language Learners’ Opportunity to Learn Mathematics: Issues and Limitations:

Although explicit grammar instruction has been a source of considerable debate in second-language teaching, increasingly educational linguists assert instruction in academic language is critical, given the current assessment reform in K–12 contexts. Of particular concern is that contemporary English-Language-Learner (ELL) instruction focuses on making the content comprehensible to ELLs in a manner that may lead to inadequate exposure to academic language, which is considered paramount to ELLs' educational success. Therefore, it is necessary to develop methods for increasing teachers' capacity to address this issue instructionally. Informed by Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), this study presents the effectiveness and instructional impact of a professional-development program designed to increase teachers' understanding of the characteristics of academic language. Differences in teacher evaluations of student work prior to and after SFL training suggest that teachers were better able to analy...

Developing Teacher Capacity for Serving ELLs' Writing Instructional Needs: A Case for Systemic Functional Linguistics.

The purpose of this study was to examine how various opportunity to learn (OTL) variables impact student outcomes and whether these effects are consistent across different subject areas. In this study, we examined the impact of OTL variables on student performance on English and algebra assessments. Despite the differences in the subject areas, 3 consistent findings emerged. First, we found a significant positive relationship between teacher expertise and student performance. Teacher expertise in this study is defined specifically as expertise and knowledge within the content areas covered in the standards and the district assessment, rather than overall expertise in the subject area. Our study also showed that content coverage was positively correlated with student performance in English and algebra. Finally, consistent with previous findings, our study indicated that the socioeconomic status of the classroom has a significant impact on student performance.

Relationship between Opportunity to Learn and Student Performance on English and Algebra Assessments.

To further the understanding of ELL (under) achievement and broaden the current scope of OTL models, the primary focus of this study was to investigate process and content opportunities that are particularly relevant to improving ELL achievement with particular attention to the relationship between opportunities to acquire academic language and ELL achievement. The work reported here operationalized academic language within a systemic functional linguistics theory (also called “functional grammar”). This theory of language use provided teachers and students with a framework for analyzing language in a manner that both built on existing language knowledge (or schemas) and provided them with an accessible structure for examining more complicated language (and content) concept. Based on our literature review, previous findings, and new ELL-sensitive OTL model, we investigated the following research questions in this study: (a.) To what extent and in what ways are students being exposed to key OTL variables in classrooms? (b). What is the impact of academic language and other OTL indicators on ELLs’ and non-ELLs’ performance on LAPA? After an introduction and literature review, the remainder of this report addresses sources of data, description of instruments and procedures, and types of analyses selected for the study; findings related to the research questions; and concludes with a discussion based on the findings. One of the most important findings from this study points to the need for explicit instruction on academic language. The positive impact of functional grammar implementation on student outcomes also suggests that in order for ELLs to fully benefit from assessment-driven reform, teachers need the capacity to make the linguistic expectations clear to students by focusing on the linguistic elements that are characteristic of academic registers.

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Consequences and Validity of Performance Assessment for English Language Learners: Integrating Academic Language and ELL Instructional Needs into Opportunity to Learn Measures. CSE 678.

Janet Lee

Papers

Relationship between Opportunity to Learn and Student Performance on English and Algebra Assessments.

Consequences and Validity of Performance Assessment for English Language Learners: Integrating Academic Language and ELL Instructional Needs into Opportunity to Learn Measures. CSE 678.